Christian Fittipaldi moving to stock cars

Posted 4:01PM on Wednesday 7th August 2002 ( 22 years ago )

RALEIGH, N.C. - Christian Fittipaldi will be switching his wheels next season, leaving CART and joining Petty Enterprises in a combined Busch and Winston Cup program. The nephew of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi has been a regular in CART for eight years, all but the first with Newman-Haas Racing. "Christian will be another bright new star in our sport," said Kyle Petty, CEO of the family-run Petty team. "It's exciting for us to have landed him. He's got tremendous experience and he's been very successful in every series he's raced in." Petty said Fittipaldi will compete next year in the Busch Series as well as a handful of Winston Cup and ARCA events. If all goes as planned, the 31-year-old Brazilian would then move to NASCAR's top stock car series full-time in 2004. The Petty team's current Winston Cup drivers are Kyle Petty, John Andretti and recent addition Jerry Nadeau. Buckshot Jones and Steve Grissom had previously driven the third Petty Dodge this season. Andretti's future with the team is uncertain. "He is still weighing his options to be honest with you," Petty said. "We've told him ... that we want him. I talked to him and his father last weekend at Indianapolis, and he's still leaning our way." Fittipaldi won the Formula 3000 championship in Europe in 1991, competed in Formula One from 1992 to 1994 and then went to the Champ car series, where crashes and injuries have marred his career. Although nearly always competitive, Fittipaldi has only two CART victories and has not finished higher than fifth in the season standings. This season, pairing with series leader Cristiano da Matta, Fittipaldi has had four top-10 finishes and is ninth in the points. "Ive been looking at NASCAR over the last several years and knew I wanted to be a part of it," Fittipaldi said. "I've been part of one of the top teams in the CART series with Newman-Haas and I wanted to find a similar opportunity in NASCAR." Fittipaldi made his stock car debut last November in Homestead, Fla., starting 33rd and finish 39th after crashing in the Busch Series finale. He started fifth and finished 35th with an engine failure last month at St. Louis. "Petty Enterprises is one of the top names in the sport. Their team is clearly on the way up and they have an impressive group of people and equipment working to take them to the top. Im looking forward to being a part of it."

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/8/191580